Garlic Focaccia

I love Italian bread and as tonight is pasta night what better than a focaccia. The original recipe I used comes from 'The big book of bread' by Anne Sheasby. This book is a bread bible, every bread you can think of is in this book and it is a real inspiration to me. I did fiddle with the recipe, although the dough is the original recipe from the book I made this into a garlic focaccia. Sauteed garlic was wrapped inside the bread dough then I studded the bread with garlic cloves and rosemary, fresh from the garden.
Focaccia:
(based on half quantity)
225g plain white bread flour
1 tsp salt
1 teaspoon easy blend yeast
1 1/5 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
110ml warm water
I added to this:
8 cloves garlic, chopped
12 cloves garlic unpeeled.
3 tbsp olive oil
Few sprigs of rosemary

Preheat oven to 200c.
Grease a baking tray and set aside.
Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl, stir in the yeast.
Make a well in the centre, then add the olive oil and enough water to make a soft dough.
Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead till soft and elastic. Shape the dough into a round, then place it in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and leave until doubled in size.
Meanwhile:
Gently saute the garlic in a 1 tbsp of olive oil, when golden brown, remove from the pan and pour over the remaining oil. Set aside.
Gently simmer the unpeeled cloves of garlic for 10 minutes in a pan of water. When soft drain and set aside.
Knock back the dough and roll out to a large rectangle, spread the sauteed garlic (keep the oil for later though) over the dough and fold over the edges to enclose the garlic.
Turn the dough over and brush with the remaining garlic infused oil, stud with the cooked garlic cloves and rosemary. Sprinkle a little flour over the top.
Bake for 20 minutes.



This bread was delicious, and very simple to do. The garlic centre was very mild and the garlic cloves steamed in their skins, making them a aromatic contrast to the rosemary.
I will be baking this bread again and again.